I’m the owner of iHost since about 3 weeks. I must say that I’m very disappointed with this device or rather with firmware. About a week ago I put the device back in the box and put it in the closet because for today it’s useless.
I must say that the hardware is promising but the firmware is a joke. I know that producer will answer that is still a baby but I say for now it’s rather spermatozoid and it shouldn’t go on sale yet.
Before I bought this device I was aware of some limitations but I thought that Home Assistant will solve all problems before working software appears. Unfortunately HA on docker is another mistake. Without add ons you can only check the weather…
Producer will probably answer add ons are not my problem or use Homebridge but I say that 90% of population are using android.
What would I advise the manufacturer:
The road map is a joke. You have plans for a new paint but this car still doesn’t have weels. Work on current firmware first (malfunctioning SD Cards, system time, support for Evelink Lan devices, cast …)
I understand that iHost is a local hub but don’t you think that people would like to have remote access to their temperature sensors or security sensors? What’s the point to use it as a security center if don’t have any information that your house is burning or robbed. You will ansver port forwarding or VPN. I say that would be nice to have a choice if you want to access devices remotely or not.
I would suggest to prepare separate app and docker addon for iHost. That could give access to devices without messing around and using an external application.
Anyway I expect iHost stay in the closet for at least a year because it is impossible to use now. You can’t contoll your devices locally because your scenarios don’t work if many wifi Ewelink devices (with LAN support) are not supported in iHost.
You can’t add just zigbee devices to iHost because they are invisible in app and your scenarios don’t work either.
Dear Sonoff/Evelink, you have a lot of work ahead of you, but please start with support for your own devices and how to operate them remotely. The rest are just add-ons.
Nice summary. I agree with you. Support for all ewelink lan devices and choice for remote access are essential. I think I’ll do the same with my iHost, what a pity.
TRUE. I think they don’t know what real beta testers are. They gave a few free samples to guys who are talking what a perfect device it is on the YT. The true is that these guys have to speak nice things about iHost and such a market policy is just cheating. You should not sell a device wich doesn’t work. Or they treat customers like beta testers but I think customers can give them some advice but don’t want to be a guinea pig. I’m really pissed.
I am also the owner of 2 iHost instances for about 3 weeks. Apparently in a hurry with the purchase at the lowest price. This device does not know how to do anything, it constantly freezes or goes into an endless reset. Of all the possibilities, it turned out to connect only the GK-200MP2-B video camera. iHost is completely unsuitable for smart home use. It is not solid for developers to modify their product at the expense of buyers. The correct and honest option is to send prototypes to testers for free. I am disheartened.
I think we are seeing the growing pains of a new process for Sonoff. Until recently, they have not really tried to establish an open ecosystem that is friendly to DIY users and developers. So we have customers who are disappointed that they bought a product that is still under development and developers who respond with “just wait” and don’t seem committed to a solid release schedule.
At times, it can be hard to tell which issues are caused by user error, firmware bugs, or lack of implementation. A few of the difficulties are really not excusable, particularly the TF card issue. A public explanation of what went wrong and what was done to fix it (assuming that it is fixed) would go a long way to increase user confidence.
I find the hardware design so promising that I am willing to invest time in software development, as long as I feel that the in-house team is willing and able to support independent developers.
So focus on the 3 points I’ve written in the first post. I’ve read a lot of opinion about iHost and I think that suggestions in my post are crutial for most of the customers.
By the way I am an educated economist and I know such a product lunch without informing that’s a pure BETA is very risky and impossible in Europe.
The existence of a roadmap from the start was a clear indication of what to expect at launch. Execution of the roadmap is a different question.
The presence or absence of various features is a design choice made by the manufacturer. If something is missing that is a deal-breaker for you, don’t buy.
There is a separate topic for Ideas & Suggestions.
I have great respect for the consumer protection and privacy policies in effect in Europe and the public attitudes they reflect. If you believe this product violates any regulations, you probably could report it. I am an experienced scientist and engineer, and I have watched many products and systems overcome initial difficulties to become highly successful. Others did not, and only time will tell in this case.
I’m from Europe and didn’t steal this product. I bought it on itead official internet shop. I didn’t see there information that it is impossible to buy it from Europe. I didn’t see information “we dont’t care about customers outside of China”
When I’m writing “road map is a joke” please read the whole sentence with understanding. My intention was to ask you to focus on the essential issues first. In other words I would expect that this device start working properly first and then you’ll focus on other great things like Matter for example.
Yes, you could read between the lines that this is a development phase but no one said the divice doesn’t work yet. I would be probably content if I have iHost and a few zigbee sensors but people (like me) have dozen of wifi devices and dozen of zigbee devices and they want to combine it into one ecosystem.
In my opinion if you don’t have beta testers you should listen to customers feedback sometimes.
I would never question your right to your opinions. In fact, I share some of them. I think it was your tone that caused me some discomfort. We probably have the same hope for the eventual success of the iHost. I have devices from a number of manufacturers, using different network and and control protocols and different apps and user interfaces that need to be brought into a common environment. I suspect we will approach this from different directions, you by putting the device on the shelf for some months and I by spending that time writing and testing whatever software I can contribute to the improvement of the situation.
I’ve had my iHost for a few weeks now & I’m disappointed. I understood that it was an ‘early’ release but it’s barely functional.
I like to use node-red but without a MQQT broker, node-red is fairly useless to me.
For now I’m using a broker hosted on a Raspberry Pi as an interim solution.
Hardly a solution - I can do everything iHost can do, and MUCH more on the rPi.
I was tempted by the ‘one box’ solution offered by iHost but I’m afraid it has a long way to go before it is any use to me.
Ian
Like most other early buyers I was excited to see local control of my mainly sonoff devices. I fitted a Samsung 64Gb tf card and installed the Docker ewelink/ewelink smart home app. As expected it discovered most of the devices then promptly froze (and repeatedly) . 100% CPU usage on the display and the only way to reset was a power down.
Perhaps it was this method that led to fault developed on the power in circuitry. Only the lower led display lights and then nothing.
Unit is headed for the trash.
I realy like ihost device even all my lan enabled switches are working on it.it has exceded my expectations regarding camera integration also i would like to see some ai implemented in camera department,i also wait to rf bridges and some other devices to be implemented all in all as it stands now there are a few bugs but my understanding is that is worked on as we speak.
Wow. There are some unhappy people in this thread. I too am pretty disappointed at the moment. But I do have hope that there will be improvement and I still see potential for this device. And even if it turns out, that there is no improvement, it is still a nice piece of hardware that might as well run a different OS. But as I said: I am hoping for improvements.
@suarez23 Yes, too bad there are so many limitations for Home Assistant in a docker. No add ons and no restore function. But by the looks of it, those are HA’s limitations.
Give iobroker a try. It too has a limitation > it can (currently) not access the ZigBee devices directly connected to the iHost ZigBee hub. But that might be a matter of time.